37 woodcut illus., some spanning several pages, all full-page. 74; 71 folding leaves. Two vols. Large 4to (334 x 202 mm.), orig. semi-stiff wrappers (a little worn) with orig. title slips on upper wrappers, new stitching. [Korea]: [after 1843].

A rare Korean, movable-type edition of this pioneering Chinese work on Western technology, ballistics, and artillery. The author Ding Gongchen, one of the leading gunnery and gunpowder experts of China, was also the first Chinese to correctly describe the steam mechanism in writing (in juan 4) and to construct a steam engine, illustrated here.

Scholars have remarked that the most valuable... More